Wednesday, April 30, 2014

The movie was about a young lady named Sydney played by Lea Michelle (Glee) getting through her last year of high school and all the struggles that come with being eight teen. It is a quirky comedy with a lot of ups and downs and it is rated PG. There were some twists and turns and some unforeseen surprises. You also follow Sydney as she looked for jobs and the trials she faces along the way. You see life from Sydney's point of view and what it is like to be from a divorced family. She also has a unique family that some would find strange... She lives with her father played by Matthew Modine (Family weekend), mother played by Melissa McCarthy (bridesmaids) and step father played by Christian Bale (bat man) and they all get along great.
We see Sydney go through a lot of planning for college and the stresses that go along with writing scholarship essays. Seeing her trying to find people she is close too, so that they can write recommendations for the scholarships she is applying to. Follow her as she gets her college acceptance letter and as she chooses her major. Along with choosing her major she has to finding out what courses she needs to take to achieve that goal. She wants to become an Art therapist and help children with disabilities. Let them be learning or physical disabilities she just wants them to feel that they can express themselves.The movie is a family movie that is heavily centered around Sydney's walk with Christ and how she is growing in faith. She volunteers at an elementary school and at her churches children's ministry. She is involved with a young life club that she had to step out of her comfort zone to get involved with. By being this introverted girl she overcomes being non social and participating in more social activities.
She is involved in Yearbook and she soon realizes how much work it is to complete the yearbook. She some how ends up to be the only girl in her CAD class, we find out what she thinks of it. One would think that being the only girl in a room of boys would be a dream come true for any girl. She gets a lot of great advice from her personal finance class for planning her future. Watch as she over comes her personal struggles like getting over her fears of failure and her insecurities.
Follow her as she plans on going to prom and why she is determined to not go alone to her senior prom. So she plans on getting a group of her friends together so they can all go together to diner and the dance. One of her friends gets a limo for them all to go in. Find out how important Family and faith is to her and what it means to her to have her family close to her. All in all it was a great movie, I give it 3.5 stars. I'm not going to spoil the ending for you, so go see it.

*Why did you choose this piece over the others?I chose this piece over the others because it is a great example of an editorial.

*What are the strengths and weaknesses of the piece?the strengths are that I have great introductions of the people I interviewed. The weaknesses are that I needed an opinion from a teacher.

The RSU

The RSU is a greatly debated subject in Freeport, some support it and think it was a great idea and others think that it was a horrible Idea I personally find that the RSU has work fairly well because now a lot of the extracurriculars have grown in participation. But I do believe that they should of thought out the plan more before the towns voted on it.
An example of a negative view on the RSU is when I asked "What do you think of the RSU?" Shannon Fournier a mother of a senior at Freeport high school said I understand what the state was trying to do with consolidating schools into districts to lower cost. However, the planning was not well thought out and there were several things that needed to be ironed out before the deadline arrived. These items were not completed before the RSU’s were put into action and like all things. If the planning is not complete, the Project will fail.
Nick Boyden a senior at Freeport said The RSU is great, my sister is a freshman here at Freeport and I don't think it is a good idea to mover her to a new school just because we live in Durham.
I find that the students and teachers in the school have split views of the RSU because of this argument. It's like the parents are influencing the students views on this matter for example the school is divided some what by town and they don't mingle.
"I remember attending meetings where state representatives came to the town and discussed the topic of the RSU. The meetings were packed and the discussions were very heated. I typically never attend town meetings, however, I was opposed to the RSU because there were too many unanswered questions and it seemed doomed to fail." Remarked Shannon Fournier
I think that if planned out properly, it will be fine. However, there are many questions in my mind about the finances that were added together and if they are going back to the town that they belong to. I am specifically speaking of the Durham school debt that we all had to assume and pay for. Will Durham and Pownal go back to having a choice of schools to attend? And will Freeport receive funds for each student that does attend our High school?
There are strong feelings from all three towns and this needs to be handled with delicacy and diplomacy. The RSU committee needs to be completely transparent this time around. Shannon Fournier stated about the consequences if the RSU split.
"They bring it up every year and it keeps getting shot down. I believe students would have to go to other schools. My sister would have to go to Brunswick, I have heard not so good things about that school. The classes would be smaller because half of the school would be gone." Said Nick Boyden
A solution could be that they should work with what they have and improve what needs improvement. For example they should look at the classrooms and see if anything needs fixing.

*What was the assignment?The first editorial I wrote. I chose a topic that I didn't have an opinion of to write about.

*Why did you choose this piece over the others?I Chose this piece over the others because I think that it was a good article.

*What are the strengths and weaknesses of the piece?The strengths are it has a lot of opinions from my sources and reasoning for the opinions. The weaknesses are I don't have the view from the the schools stand point.

The Reason For The Skip

What is senior skip day? and Why is it a tradition? are just some questions that most people have about this day that is just for the seniors. Senior skip day is a day when the senior class skips school around the end of the school year. The school tries to discourage the chance of a senior skip day by giving the seniors a senior field trip and other special things like a barbecue. Most would say that senior skip day is a waste of time and that kids don't get anything out of it, they may be right but it all depends on the person you ask. "Senior skip day is about freedom and just getting away from the rules and confinement of school" Said Steven Terison. When asked what senior skip day mean to people Shannon said "I believe it is a day at the end of the school year when all the students in the senior class coordinate amongst themselves to take a day off. Some of the class will go together to a special location i.e.: beach, amusement park." Senior skip day is about rebelling and being free of the rules of school. When asked do you think there should be a senior skip day, Shannon said "Official day- No as it defeats the purpose of the rebelliousness of the day. Unofficial right of passage- Why not? As long as it is a safe outing- no harm is down." The tradition of senior skip day at Freeport high school is that the seniors plan amongst themselves a day before finals that they will all skip school and do stuff together. "When I was in school at FHS (senior in 1991) we planned a skip day while on our senior class trip which was kind of ironic as the purpose of a senior trip is to discourage students from organizing a skip day. Why it is a tradition is I guess it is like a right of passage." Shannon Fournier said about her experience of the tradition of planning the skip day. When asked what senior skip day mean to people Shannon said "I believe it is a day at the end of the school year when all the students in the senior class coordinate amongst themselves to take a day off. Some of the class will go together to a special location i.e.: beach, amusement park." Steven said the reason why seniors have a skip day is because it is the "last days of fun before college."

Thursday, April 17, 2014

I watched partly cloudy it was a cute little short with cuddly and scary animals like puppies and alligators. The clouds were the ones that made the baby animals and the storks would deliver the animals. One of the clouds was making the rougher baby animals and the stork was getting beat up. But like all Pixar shorts it all ended on a high note.

Monday, March 24, 2014

— How compelling do you find this most recent report to be?I find this recent report quite compelling — How much does the topic concern you in general? Why?This topic concerns me because the climate is changing so fast — What do you think schools could be doing?
I'm not really sure the schools can do any thing to help this issue other then telling their students about globle warming.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

I thought that i did but I think that it would be better to just join a club instead.

— What do you think fraternities could do to police themselves? Is what Sigma Alpha Epsilon doing enough?

Have less underaged drinking and less rushing. I believe that what they are doing is a good start.

— What do you think of the argument the student in this excerpt makes — that rituals like pledging build the most committed members of the organization? What are some of the positive things fraternities do?

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

1. Weather in Maine- I personally like the weather in Maine because it is always changing. There is a saying about the weather for Maine "if you don't like the weather just wait five minuets." I find this to be true for the most part because we can't really wait five minuets for winter to be over.

2. Lying- I feel that lying is really bad and it makes others not trust you. When I was little my parents would say that they would be more mad or upset if I didn't tell the truth. So I would all ways try to tell the truth.

3. Spending money- I don't really like to spend money but when I do want to spend money and I have it I will spend it on something. I don't spend my money all the time so I do keep my money longer.

4. Having or getting a job- looking for and getting a job can some time feel like it is a job on its own.

5. Senior privileges-I feel that seniors should have more privileges like if we are 18 we can sign for ourselves.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

— Do you feel your fate is already predetermined by your lineage — your parents and ancestors? Or do you feel you are in the driver’s seat in determining your own success?

I believe that I have control over if I succeed or if I fail. It is also deter and by what your parents taught you for values.

— The author makes the argument that “the compulsion to strive, the talent to prosper and the ability to overcome failure are strongly inherited.” Do you think you inherited these qualities? Or do you think you had to develop them on your own?

Monday, February 3, 2014

What are Sawatzki's rules of interviewing?1. no yes or no questions. 2. Keep questions short 3. Avoid charged wordsWhat are things not to do when interviewing?No rapid fire questions, don't make it about youself, no leading questions.What troubles or challenges have you encountered when conducting interviews?Getting longer answers and coming up with good questions What can you do in future interviews to elicit more detailed and informative responses?Give better questions

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

For me this year as a writer has been challenging in a good way. I feel like I have grown as a writer and now know what questions to ask to make better pieces of writing. Some of the things that I have struggled with in journalism are coming up with really good questions and and strong details. I believe that I have improved in those areas over the semester and I have a better understanding of how to achieve them. The first piece of writing I chose to put on my blog was my personality profile because I believe it is a fairly strong piece of writing for me. To creat this piece of writing I had to get an interview from a person with the career I wanted to go in to. I'm not sure of the weaknesses that stand out to much but I would love to add more of my voice and point of view.The second piece of writing is my college essay I chose this piece because it has a strong voice and tone. The weaknesses I would say are that I didn't put a lot of detail in because I couldn't remember to well. The strengths I would say are that I did paint some what of a picture for example " When I'm in the apple orchard I like to take in the sounds of the things around me. The sounds I hear are the wind whistling through the trees and birds chirping in the trees all around me."Some of my goals at the beginning of the class were to become a better writer with more detailed papers and going into more depth with what I'm trying to write. I believe that I have almost gotten to a point where I have been able to achieve them. The one that I'm closest to achieving is putting more details in the papers. I want to make my writing more meaningful and interesting for the reader.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

The place that I feel content at is my family’s apple orchard the Terison Apple Orchard. The apple orchard is on 25 acres of land in Cumberland, Maine on Whitney Road, and it has been in the family since 1946. Most of the trees are around 100 years old and are still living. There are two barns on the property and one looks like it's more of a shed than a barn. The other is a normal looking barn and it is where people used to get needems and cider. There is still a little snack shack at the front of the orchard. The snack shack looks like a little white shed with a sign that says Apples.
I spent most of my falls growing up at the orchard, so much so that it has a spot in my heart. The part that makes the orchard my content place is the fact that it is peaceful and mostly quiet. The orchard reminds me of a happier time in my life when I was young and I didn’t have many cares in the world. The orchard is as much a part of me as the blood that flows through my veins.
I feel a great attachment to my family through the orchard like it is what connects me to my ancestors. My grandfather is a second generation apple farmer who took great care of the orchard when it was still running. My grandfather took the orchard to the next level as a business by adding new trees. I like being there and remembering all the things that it meant to me before it closed and all the things I used to do there with my family. Before the orchard closed for business my parents would work there in the falls. I have a great memory from when I was three, my dad would pick me up and throw me in the air in the middle of the orchard. When he would throw me in the air I would feel like I was flying and free. My mother would teach me how to pick the apples correctly so as not to hurt the trees and how to use the apple picker tool.
When I'm in the apple orchard I like to take in the sounds of the things around me. The sounds I hear are the wind whistling through the trees and birds chirping in the trees all around me. Looking back I realize now that it was my favorite place in the whole wide world and it still is in some part the place I want to be. The place that is the most special in the orchard for me is the first apple tree because it is where I would spend most of my time playing. For the most part I would be with my dad on his shoulders or with my mom learning about apples and the orchard. I will never want to let it go no matter what anyone says about it, I will always cherish it with all of my heart. I want other people to feel the peace that I feel when I'm there and see other orchard like I do, as a safe and quiet place.

Have you ever wondered why art is so important? This question has not really occurred to me because it is important to me. Because it is a way of expressing yourself and a way of documenting history. Just think what school would be without art, Would it be the same or different? Would it matter to you if it was different?

Kathleen Meade is an artist in freeport who teaches art to all ages. I asked Kathleen Meade some questions about a career in art and working with children because the career I am thinking of going into is art therapy to help children that have different learning styles. Kathleen Meade went to cain university in New jersey. Meades experience at Cain was a pleasant one “It just seemed like a normal progression in school we were taught a variety of things like quilting, ceramics, painting, and sculpture. They said you might want to do this and learn how to teach it as well just in case you want to teach.” she also said “It was fabulous really great because of the broad base of it. One of the professors for quilting was an ex marine and we learned weaving from a granola person. We also had fun bringing in bands and artists from New York.”
Ms. Meade also makes paintings and sells them and her son Sebastian and her do big projects like they used to make sets for tv stations like channel 13. She told me how to plan lessons for kids. “I start with a concept like the lesson i'm doing on pettengill house and the inspiration for it is the ships that somebody scraped into the wall and its called scraphedo. So sebastian and I did a class all around that. So it was defining that how to show kids how to scrap the walls. drawing ships how to use the tools and how to make it look so that its old like the tea stained paper that everybody does at some point sort of like that.”

Ms. Meade teaches all ages from children to elderly folks. “So it was kind of interesting because some of the women were there and were definitely needing assistance and other people there. There were probably five of six. It was a live in pajama party basicly. Like they were all making memory jugs which are jugs covered in supposedly cement but we’re not using cement which is one of the adaptations you need to make. So we’re using a different kind of clay so they would poke in little 3 dimensional memories like keys or pins or tiny pictures. It started people talking about their past and their memories.” She said about one of her classes at the senior citizen home In Freeport. I asked her if teaching adults is different than teaching children and she told me that it wasn’t really different at all. Kathleen Meade told me how she teaches the children. “ Basically when you're teaching period when i’m teaching I teach every individual so its not like you might be jumping off the wall but you're getting something done. Somebody else only wants to do everything correctly and they're going to have to make mistakes. So I would just work with each person individually in the class and it seems to work for me.”
I asked Ms. Meade for advice on how to start a business teaching art and she told me “ Basically acknowledging the fact that people need art and where to go from there. my business extended with doing other art things besides teaching. I had chosen not to go into the public system because of bureaucracy and all the stuff that is there. I taught up at the parochial school for a while and then I taught in other places where they need other art classes.” I asked her what the challenges of teaching kids? She told me “Some are off the walls (laughs). Children are usually not a problem in art at all the parents might be a problem but not children. Like during the summer art program one mother came in and was mad that her son had paint on his favorite clothes and I had told her to pack old clothes.” Art is really important in the world for many reasons. so I asked Ms. Meade how it affects children “Its the bottom line base line to their humanity to make and do I find that all the way through. It doesn’t matter if its kids or adults the bottom line is you need to be making and people who say i’m not an artist reality is its a really good impact on their brain, on their soul. To put it simply arts good arts important.” I agree with her and this is the reason I want to help children express themselves with art by going into an art career.